Maddison Ash & Mark Hamilton on She Brings The Rain

I'm sure there comes a stage in every DSLR video enthusiasts learning progression where they feel they are ready to take on the production of, or at least the camera work for a music video.

As it turns out, 2011 was my year to join the ranks and 'She Brings The Rain' was the song I did it for. This was my first end to end production in the music video genre, and in the spirit of independent (should I also mention zero budget) motion production I had my hand in every step of the process from scripting through to post.  Sam Korn, the award winning singer/songwriter from Erica Owns the Sky was keen to give me a shot on this one, needless to say I grabbed the opportunity as soon as it presented itself.

I certainly did not do this single handedly, I was fortunate to have the help of an enthusiastic team of friends who each brought something to the table and had a go at some of these roles themselves just for the experience. This project was a weekend pursuit and everyone happily volunteered their spare time to help out over the course of about 7 weekends at various locations.

Video production isn't how I earn a living, in fact it consumes much of that living on equipment expenses. The same goes for each and every person that volunteered their time on this project, we all have day jobs to go to.

Anyway, this isn't intended to be a 'How we made it' post, you can search the blog archive for those. Instead ... here's the video for you to watch.
 

Special thanks to the following, whose help and permission made filming this clip possible: 
Qantas, Darwin International Airport, Kerry's Automotive Group, Crowne Plaza Darwin, Entreagus Fashion 

My personal "thank you" to the crew, you guys all rock:
Mark Hamilton, Katrina Welfare, Jess Lai, James Isacsson, Bronwyn Pain, Lan Treagus, Sam Korn, Katie Abraham, Maddison Ash, William Nguyen-Phuoc, Ed Forman & Craig Danvers

Read more »

DTOWN-3

Zerolizard's resident photographer Auki Henry's promo shoot with Aussie rappers DTOWN-3 aka DT3

The boys from Darwin's own DTOWN-3

This was another one of our privileged requested shoots with successful Darwin musicians who have come to know the Zerolizard brand.

Forming in late 2009 The lads from DTOWN-3 have climbed the ranks of local recognition rapidly with their distinctive style and have stamped a confident mark on their genre by already appearing on the 2011 lineup of the NT's annual Bass in the Grass in less than 2 years from their original conception.

2011 has also witnessed the release of their debut EP "Skyhigh" which is testament to their enthusiasm for self sufficiency and getting things done as they produced this in their self built studio.

The tempo continues after this shoot as the boys have been confirmed to perform alongside some major upcoming acts.

The shoot itself was called to prepare for their busy next couple of months of public appearances, the brief being basically to do a studio style set of both individual and  group shots to update their promotional arsenal.

Some publicly available samples of the shoot are available in the forums : HERE

  

Read more »

Top Doorslammers Special

Article by Auki Henry © 2011

A few of the HighRPM media crew on the night.
Picture: Mark Hamilton

Recently we went down with the HighRPM crew to witness the official grand re-opening of the Hidden Valley drag strip after a multi-million dollar facilities upgrade.

The intention was to capture promo footage for TV with future doorslammer advertising in mind, but we just couldn't resist putting together a quick highlights feature for the guys at Hidden Valley.

Introducing Heather Banham to the presenting team and including high profile Darwin photographers Mark Hamilton, Katrina Welfare (Hamilton Photography NT) and Martin Eadie (Martin Eadie Photography) the crew was armed with an arsenal of media power to cover the event which featured eight of Australia's fastest Top Doorslammer teams.

Having front seat views directly on the track amidst the noise of the methanol breathing monsters was a massive adrenaline rush, the hearing protection, although overboard seemed only marginally adequate to deal with the roar of the doorslammers, and did nothing to protect against the amazing body cavity vibrations.  The experience, priceless, the team is looking forward to the next round to do it all over again!

Video edited and produced in-house by Auki Henry & Ed Forman

Many thanks to the team:
Photographers: Mark Hamilton, Martin Eadie, Katrina Welfare, Dennis Forman
Video: Auki Henry, Ed Forman, Craig Danvers, Nick Morrish
Executive Assitant/Sound: Katie Abraham
Presenter: Heather Banham

Read more »

Darwin Photoshoots - Maddison Ash

Post and images by staff photographer Auki Henry © 2011

Darwin's girl next door Maddison Ash
Photo: Auki Henry

Maddison Ash is a recent discovery. A friend and fellow photographer Mark Hamilton did a shoot for an advertising campaign recently which was actually Maddison's first exposure to a pro photo shoot.

Her natural beauty was evident, nothing forced about her smiles and very confident in stature. So of course we decided to book her in for a beach shoot and take advantage of the fine seasonal weather we have in Darwin at this time of year.

We got quite a lot done on our first shoot with her in such a short amount of time, and admittedly the time was shorter as I slightly miscalculated the speed of the setting sun by about 20 minutes. Luckily we have a few more shoots with Maddison to come this year. It was hard to believe it was only her second shoot ever!

The article picture inset is one of those pics that I took just a little too late for the setting sun to provide a backlight, so rather than waste the photo it was turned into a fantasy composite. I'd like to say twilight scene, but the movies have ruined that for me, no offence to team Edward but I'd like to class Maddison in a league apart from the connotations of the movie . . . I will refer to it instead as a surreal moonlit forest.

Below is a linked sample set of the shots we got in before the sun went down too far; enjoy!

Click on the samples below to see some more Maddison Ash

Read more »

40th Anniversary of Kamfari

Zerolizard & HighRPM © 2011

Action from the air at the 40th Anniversary Kamfari Race, Darwin NT
Photo: Auki Henry

HighRPM sent a media team down to Black Jungle (just south of Darwin, Australia) on the weekend to cover the gruelling 4 hour "Kamfari",  one of the best known and toughest motorcycle endurance events on the Australian calendar.

Due to factors such as track length, terrain and the hot tropical conditions at an event like this it is usually hard to get many cameras to prime locations.  Our crew had a camera on track at all times to get in amongst the action, so to get a few more angles it was necessary to take to the air.

Here's a small 'behind the scenes' ride with Auki Henry, Heather Banham and Katie Abraham who went up to get a birds eye perspective of the action.

Read more »

Grand Re-Opening Hidden Valley Drag Strip

Zerolizard's Ad Concept for the HVDS Grand Re-Opening

In 2010 the drag racing season at Darwin's Hidden Valley motor sports complex was shortened to accommodate a multi-million dollar facilities upgrade.

With a spectacular feature event to farewell the old strip it was only fitting to have an equally memorable event to welcome in the new strip in 2011.

Although the popular Beat the Heat events started in April 2011, the official re-opening spectacular is scheduled for Friday May 13th and Saturday May 14th 2011.  Tipped as being the biggest horsepower show in Darwin's history the Hidden Valley spectacular will boast 10 of Australia's fastest Top Doorslammers testing the new surface to its limits.

We were approached to produce an advertising concept to reflect this momentous occasion, in-house editor Auki Henry decided an epic mix of dramatic theme music and tight cut action clips would convey the drama.  With the familiar voice over of the "Darwin Commentator" Wayne Cottle and a clean cut script by HVDRA's Jay Jukes it definitely fits the brief.

Read more »

Beat the Heat in 2011

Shane Shewring in "The Heat" - Picture : HighRPM

Racing against a "cop" is a draw card that would be hard to resist for many die hard speed fans, even better when you can do it legally in a safe & controlled environment.

The "Beat the Heat" initiative pits some of the Northern Territory's finest real life police officers against keen racers of all ages.  After successfully drawing the crowds to the Hidden Valley Raceway since 2003 the series has become a popular attraction for the motorsports loving public making household names of officers like Senior Constable First Class Shane Shewring who is the popular driver of "The Heat" and "Street Heat".

The passion of those involved in the initative is a credit to them, they receive no funding from the NT Police or the Government and rely totally on support from the community, local businesses and service organisations.

This year Auki Henry and Ed Forman ( Zerolizard / HighRPM ) were approached to kick off their 2011 advertising with footage from HighRPM's debut 2010 season.  Here is the 15 second ad format due to broadcast on 7 Mate in the coming weeks.

Read more »